Big Wednesday
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Big Wednesday (1978) is an American coming of age film directed by John Milius. The picture stars Jan-Michael Vincent, William Katt and Gary Busey as California surfers facing life, the Vietnam War, and use of the ever changing surf as a metaphor for the changes in life.
Surfing aficionados consider it to be one of the better surfing-related films made, in part because of the surfing cinematography and the appearance of several world champion surfers as stunt performers, plus its verisimilitude, especially when compared to the kitschy 1960s Beach Party films. The director, John Milius, had been a surfer in his youth.
The film also examines the extremes which some young men went to during the Vietnam years to avoid being drafted and shipped off to war, including: faking insanity, homosexuality (which the military then equated with insanity), and all manner of medical ailments. The picture also illustrates the tough decision some made to enlist and the effects that decision had on their friends and families.
